Internal Combustion Engine with reduced noise and increased performance

ABSTRACT

This invention relates generally to a system for reducing the noise and increasing the performance of an internal combustion engine. More specifically, the invention is an apparatus and method of using the same which utilizes standard mechanics of the vehicle itself to achieve its objectives. While this invention is generally intended for engines mounted on bicycles, the principles apply to any motor vehicle equipped with spokes, wheels, or fans.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a system for reducing the noise andincreasing the performance of an internal combustion engine. Morespecifically, this apparatus utilizes standard mechanics of the vehicleitself to achieve its objectives. While this invention is generallyintended for engines mounted on bicycles, the principles apply to anymotor vehicle.

One of the biggest objections to motorized bicycles is the noise thatemulates from the exhaust. Conceptually, prior art has generallyattempted to utilize mufflers to reduce the noise that emanates from aninternal combustion engine. U.S. Pat. No. 582,485 for an “Exhaustmuffler for engines” was awarded to Milton O. Reeves and Marshall T.Reeves of Columbus, Ind. of the Reeves Pulley Company on 11 May 1897 andis one of the earliest concepts for engine noise reduction. Despite thepassing of over a century, the technology has remained fairly stagnant.As disclosed in Reeves '485, mufflers are installed within the exhaustsystem of most internal combustion engines. Although the muffler is notdesigned to serve any primary exhaust function, it is engineered as anacoustic soundproofing device designed to reduce the loudness of thesound pressure created by the engine by way of acoustic quieting. Themajority of the sound pressure produced by the engine is emanated out ofthe vehicle using the same piping used by the silent exhaust gasesabsorbed by a series of passages and chambers lined with rovingfiberglass insulation and/or resonating chambers harmonically tuned tocause destructive interference wherein opposite sound waves cancel eachother out.

An unavoidable side effect of muffler use is an increase of backpressure which decreases engine efficiency. This is because the engineexhaust must share the same complex exit pathway built inside themuffler as the sound pressure that the muffler is designed to mitigate.When the flow of exhaust gases from the engine to the atmosphere isobstructed to any degree, back pressure arises and the engine'sefficiency, and therefore power, is reduced. Performance-orientedmufflers and exhaust systems thus strive to minimize back pressure byemploying numerous technologies and methods to attenuate the sound. Forthe majority of such systems, however, the general rule of “more power,more noise” applies. Further, while mufflers do reduce noise, they arestationary devices that make no use of the moving parts of the vehicleor engine they attempt to quiet.

One way to amplify the power output of an engine is to increase theamount of air and fuel that it can burn. Some of the prior art hasattempted this by adding cylinders or increasing the volumetric capacityof the existing cylinders. However, in many applications, these changesare not feasible. In these cases, the prior art has leaned towardsadding a turbocharger.

Turbochargers are a type of forced induction system. They compress theair flowing into the engine. The advantage of compressing the air isthat the existing cylinder can now hold more air and fuel in the samespace. As a result, there is more power from each explosion in eachcylinder. The typical boost provided by a turbocharger is six to eightpounds per square inch (psi). Since normal atmospheric pressure is 14.7psi at sea level, the increase corresponds to about a fifty percentincrease of air and fuel into the engine. However, due to variousinefficiencies in an internal combustion engine, the engine will onlysee a thirty to forty percent power improvement. This discrepancy isexplained by the fact that turbochargers use the exhaust flow from theengine to spin a turbine, which in turn spins an air pump, whichcompresses the air that will be injected into the cylinder to achievethe increased power. The unfortunate byproduct of having a turbine inthe exhaust flow is that it also increases the restriction in theexhaust. This causes the engine to have a higher back side pressure,which, like the mufflers previously discussed, subtracts some of thepower from the cylinders that are firing at the same time.

SUMMARY OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Overview of the apparatus

FIG. 2: Front view of the apparatus

FIG. 3: Top view of the apparatus

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The use of existing and standard engine or vehicle parts to quiet theengine noise level has not previously been applied to the issue ofreducing the noise level or increasing performance. The inventionutilizes standard mechanics and parts of the vehicle itself to achieveits objectives. While this invention is generally intended for enginesmounted on bicycles, the principles apply to any motor vehicle equippedwith spokes, wheels, or fans.

The general concept of the invention is to install a pipe (2) from theexhaust port (11) of the engine (1) and direct the pipe to preexistingspokes (33), wheels (3), fans, or any other rotating part attached tothe vehicle. This angular movement creates a vortex where the pipe meetsthe spokes. The vortex in turn generates a low pressure system thatpulls gasses out of the engine through the pipe thereby increasing thevolume and velocity of the exhaust air and with it maximizing theefficiency of the combustion engine.

Simultaneously, the spokes also act as a baffle to minimize the soundemanating from the engine exhaust. This result is achieved through theoscillation of the spokes which dampen the noise from the engine bydissipating the energy stored in the sound waves.

I claim: 1) An apparatus capable of reducing the noise and increasingthe performance of an internal combustion engine comprised of a. Avehicle, b. An internal combustion engine, further comprised of anexhaust port, c. An exhaust pipe, further comprised of a first end andsecond end, and d. At least one rotating mechanism, where e. Theinternal combustion engine is mounted on the vehicle in a fashion whereit is capable of propelling the vehicle and the first end of the exhaustpipe is attached to the exhaust port, and the second end of the exhaustpipe is facing towards and very near the rotating mechanism. 2) Theapparatus in claim 1 where the rotating mechanism is a spoked wheel. 3)The apparatus in claim 1 where the rotating mechanism is a wheel. 4) Theapparatus in claim 1 where the rotating mechanism is a fan.